Mekies on the pressure of taking over Red Bull, the mission at hand and why they need Verstappen’s ‘magic’

New Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies exclusively sits down with F1 Correspondent & Presenter Lawrence Barretto to discuss his new job and the importance of retaining Max Verstappen.

F1 Correspondent & PresenterLawrence Barretto
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As big jobs in sport go, Laurent Mekies now has one of the biggest after taking over as boss of six-time Teams' Championship winners Red Bull.

The Frenchman is only the second person to lead the team in their 20-year history and takes the helm at a time when they are struggling to deliver performance.

Mekies, an engineer by trade, has been in Formula 1 for 24 years, working with Arrows, Minardi, Toro Rosso, governing body the FIA, Ferrari, Racing Bulls and now Red Bull. Most recently, he's helped transform Racing Bull's organisational structure and together with CEO Peter Bayer shaped the team into a strong midfield force.

So, when Red Bull decided change was needed at the top, they looked within the family and it was Mekies they turned to as a replacement for Christian Horner, who had been with the team since their debut in the sport.

Speaking exclusively to F1.com in the Red Bull Energy Station on Thursday in the Spa paddock, ahead of his first appearance in front of the world's media in Friday's FIA Press Conference, Mekies cut a relaxed and charming figure as he detailed how he first got the news that would change his life.

"Obviously it came out of the blue, as for you guys," he says. "So mine was probably quite similar to you. I received a call a few hours before everyone was made aware. And it was from Oliver [Mintzlaff, Red Bull CEO Corporate Projects and Investments] and Helmut [Marko, Red Bull's Motorsport Adviser].

"Of course it took me by surprise. Then you try to digest and then you say, wait a second, it's Red Bull calling you to step in that role. How can it be anything else than a privilege?

So you get that Red Bull energy feeling there. And that's how it happened. Obviously I called them back. And the rest is history."

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'They have this incredible fighting spirit'

You don't get much sleep as a Team Principal, so demanding is the job, and Mekies admitted to getting even less than normal in the last two weeks as ideas swirl inside his head about how he would tackle one of F1's prized jobs. The first thing that popped into his mind, he says, was meeting the people.

"It's how do you now use the time to meet these incredible people, to meet the teams, to start to get to know each other, to start to interact, to understand the strengths, to understand the dynamics, to understand all of that," he adds.

"And of course, it's been only two weeks and you are nowhere near where you want to be but it's a completely different feeling once you start that process and you get to know more people every day. So it makes it quite an incredible journey."

SPA, BELGIUM - JULY 24: Laurent Mekies, Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing arrives in theMekies is embarking on his first race weekend as Team Principal and CEO at Red Bull

Mekies is a people person. Talk to anyone who has worked with him throughout his time in F1 and they will tell you what an intelligent, thoughtful and driven human he is. He galvanises a team. That he mentioned people so early in our chat – and so often as the chat went on – shows you how significant he knows they are in creating a successful operation.

It's why he wasted no time meeting them, whether that was at a pre-planned filming day at track or at their Milton Keynes campus. It's early days of course, but he's already impressed by what he's seen.

"Every day is a discovery of some of the talents there," he says. "Every day is a discovery of how the team is working. The common element is that every angle you find, every door you push, you find that incredible racing spirit.

"The guys and the girls are here to win. You really get that feeling where you feel these guys are the best in the world at what they do. And they have this incredible fighting spirit. And so every day you get lucky enough to meet some of them and to start to interact a bit more and a bit more. And that's how it has been the last two weeks."

The guys and the girls are here to win.
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Team Principal

Naturally it was tough to say goodbye to Racing Bulls, where he had held his first-ever Team Principal role and spent time early in his career plying his trade as an engineer – but he knows the team is in good hands, having suggested Alan Permane – who he had recruited as Racing Director was the right person for the job working with Bayer.

"On one side it's very difficult because the adventure was incredible there," he said. "We were on an incredible trajectory with everyone and we had done together so many changes in the last year and a half that, it really feels like things were going to accelerate and come even better.

"So on that side, of course, you feel a bit strange to leave the boat. But on the other side, the team is in perfect hands.

"Alan is just the best possible guy to take the team principal role there. He knows the team upside down. He symbolises very well the spirit we have been trying to build with everyone over there and to have him leading it, teaming up with Peter, with all the team around him."

SPA, BELGIUM - JULY 24: Alan Permane, Team Principal of Visa Cash App Racing Bulls looks on duringAlan Permane has taken charge of Racing Bulls as Team Principal

'Red Bull want to fight for the wins, to fight for the championships'

Leading Red Bull is a big step up from leading Racing Bulls – with the targets elevated from fighting at the sharp end of the midfield with his former squad to fighting for wins and championships with his new squad. The pressure is huge.

"There is only one desire at Red Bull," he says. "And it goes from the board to anybody at Red Bull F1. They are here to fight for the wins, to fight for the championships. And they are here with the maximum commitment from the group to say, we want the team to continue fighting for the win, fighting for the championships, getting the best car out there.

"So that's what naturally the target is. It is not a new target. It is not a renewed commitment. It is just a renewed commitment from the team and from the group to say, it's a team we want to fight for the championship with and we will do everything we need to do to continue doing so in the future."

Lawson and Hadjar react to Mekies promotion

The obvious follow up question is "How does he plan to do that?", given the team are currently fourth in the Teams' Championship having seen key personnel like design guru Adrian Newey and Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley leave the operation in the last couple of years to pursue opportunities with rival teams.

His answer won't surprise you as it focused on the people. "It's about making sure our people are in the right environment with the right tools to have their talents doing the magic," he says.

Success in Formula 1 takes time and tends to be cyclical. Mercedes dominated the hybrid turbo era but were first demoted as class-leaders by Red Bull and now find themselves behind the new pace-setters McLaren.

Fighting back to the front is not the work of the moment – and their challenge is even greater for next year as it is the first time they will race with their own Power Unit, produced in tandem with American automotive giant Ford. Fortunately, Mekies says the board understand it may take time to rebuild.

NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - JULY 10: Laurent Mekies, Incoming CEO and Team Principal of Oracle Red BullMekies started in his role earlier in July

"I think Red Bull has been in the sport for so long," he says. "They know exactly how the sport is working and they know what you can expect short term, what you can expect medium term, what you can expect long term.

"We have these unbelievable challenges ahead with sport trains that will mix together with the 2026 regulation challenge. So you don't need to explain these sort of things to the management. They are completely conscious of those dynamics.

"You have the fire at every level of the company in terms of how aggressively and the level of aggressions you want to put in every single level of the company to be able to give that fight for the win, for the championships, a big try."

'Max is central to the project and we need his magic'

A key component to any successful operation in Formula 1 is a squad's driver line-up – and one of the biggest tasks in Mekies' in-tray is keeping hold of their four-time World Champion Max Verstappen, whose future has been the subject of speculation despite having a contract with the team until at least the end of 2028.

Verstappen said on Thursday that "The only thing that matters is that we work on the car and make it as fast as we can make it" and Mekies knows the team's best chance of keeping the Dutchman on the books is to deliver him that.

SPA, BELGIUM - JULY 24: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing is interviewedMax Verstappen has won four drivers' titles with Red Bull

"The truth is Red Bull is hugely committed to Max," he says. "And the way we can be hugely committed to Max is by giving him the best possible car. And giving him the best possible car is what every single person in the company wants more than anything else.

"So that's where the effort is made really. And the rest will be a consequence. But of course, Max is central to the project and he's key to the project and we need his magic at the racetrack. He has been with the team for a very long time and he has huge inputs in helping us driving the next competitive edge that we will need to build."

We need his magic at the racetrack.
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Team Principal

So, is he hopeful he can deliver a car that Verstappen wants and will be enough to hopefully make him stay?

"I think the team has everything to do that," he says. "It has the means. It has the spirit. And more importantly, it has the talents. So in short, yeah, I think we have everything to be able to give that to our drivers."

Regarding Verstappen's team mate Yuki Tsunoda, Mekies knows the Japanese driver well having run him at Racing Bulls. He saw first-hand how Tsunoda can gel inside a team and get the most out of a car. He's already seen that Tsunoda is doing the first-part of that really well at Red Bull – and that the team are behind him in trying to unlock the second part in what everyone in F1 knows is one of the toughest cars on the grid to tame.

"Yuki is a fast guy," he says. "There is no doubt. And speed doesn't disappear. Circumstances have been difficult. I know the team is very strongly behind him, trying to unlock what can be unlocked and trying to connect the dots where dots need to be connected.

"So he has a very, very good interaction with the team. And yes, I'm confident that he will be able to show his true value in the near future."

Mekies has had an impressive run in Formula 1 to date. He's hugely respected among his contemporaries and is renowned for the way he rouses a workforce, delivers performance and creates a positive culture. Making the most of those traits will be critical as he tackles the biggest challenge of his career.

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